Strange, Fierce, Dumb Love
by HeyDay
Summary: There are these two boys who are the best of friends, and there's this girl one of them can't take his eyes off. But it's not that kind of story. The girl is going to die, the boy is from the future, and the best friend doesn't understand why he's being kept in the dark when all he wants to do is help.
You thought you knew someone for your entire life, all eleven years and counting, since the day you two met in kindergarten, and then they surprised you, startled you in a way you thought was impossible, like rereading a book to discover it had grown extra pages, or coming back to a video game and finding a secret boss, a second ending. Kenya was surprised that Satoru was surprised when he sprung the question on him and the rest of their friends during a break in class, but he already knew the answer.

"Do you like Hinazuki?"

Head snapping back, Satoru's eyes widened. "Eh?" He looked at him as if Kenya had just confessed to cross-dressing. Sounded like a yes. He didn't really deny it.

"You were staring at her ever since she walked in," Kenya explained. In the mind it felt unfathomable but in the air it sounded everyday ordinary and eerily believable in its utterance. Kenya watched as their friends teased and congratulated Satoru, trying not to smile as everyone else immediately became an expert in wooing girls as they gave well-meaning but nevertheless disastrous advice. He heard that there was once a time where fifth grade boys would look to girls with distaste, expressing disdain and a need to avoid all contact, and vice-versa. Perhaps his generation was an exception to the rule. Even so, part of him wanted to ask what Satoru saw in her, this quiet, sullen girl who always came to class last and late and left first.

Break ended. Class resumed. Kenya watched Satoru watching Hinazuki. Wondered if he'd seen the bruises. Wondered what he'd do when he did. Felt ashamed and angry when he considered what he himself had done and was still doing about it when he saw them himself.

Nothing.

The pencil rolled off the paper, across the wood and clattered onto the floor. Satoru leaned down to reach for it, then froze as the teacher droned on.

Kenya frowned at his friend's expression. The shock was expected, but the immediate understanding, the naked terror, and the outrage that dawned immediately after in that order, was almost as if…

You thought you knew someone for your entire life, and then one day they surprised you, like looking at a picture, blinking, looking again, and seeing a face where there were just lines and loops. A blatant illusion that had you and the world fooled. Kenya shook his head and glanced at the board, cutting off that line of thought as he forced his mind back into the writing.

 _Must be love,_ he mumbled in his head as Satoru straightened in his seat with his pencil in hand again, knowing that the gears in his friend's head were already turning. _Just s_ _trange, fierce, dumb love._

The day after and after school whilst walking home together, Kenya found himself mentioning Hinazuki's writing composition from last year. He asked Satoru if he'd seen it. Told him that there was something interesting he might find there. Watched as the fear flickered in Satoru's eyes again. A dreading of something extremely dire that Kenya could not place. He reminded Satoru that if he needed an ear, he himself would be willing to help. But when they parted their separate ways, Kenya could not help but wonder what direly needed to stay a secret.

Kenya pondered through these misgivings again when he saw Satoru start to walk Hinazuki home, hands holding hands. Brooded when the incident about the stolen lunch money came up, coolly jumping to Hinazuki's defence when Satoru leapt with indignation. Then when Satoru told him and their friends that he intended to take her to the local science centre, asking him if he and the others wanted to come along, something in Kenya trembled. And then he came to a conclusion when he and the others came by to see Satoru wiping his eyes as Hinazuki looked at him quizzically, the pair of them standing alone and together in front of the exhibits.

You thought you knew someone for your entire life, and then the day came when you start to realise the dots could be joined in a frighteningly different way. They said the dress was blue and black but now you're seeing white and gold. You turned that picture upside down, and the face of the cheery girl became the face of the miserable hag. You're speaking to your childhood friend and heard an adult speaking back.

When he discovered that Satoru intended to have his birthday party together with Hinazuki's, in his home and without Hinazuki's mother, he decided right then that enough was enough. There's kindness, there's love, and this was something else all-together.

"There's been something nagging at me for a long while now. I think you know what I'm talking about, Satoru."

It's the break again. They're standing on the stairs near the windows at the other side of the building, far away from the classrooms and the staffrooms. Outside the snow fell gently, floating as the little puffy clouds they were. Kenya stared at Satoru and watched as his fellow fifth grader smiled nervously, hands out to placate, but Kenya was having none of it. He knew a lie when he saw one. He couldn't understand why it had to be his best friend, of all the things in this world.

"Since that time you saw Hinazuki," Kenya continued, feeling the words begin to spill from him with a terrifying quickness he had no control of. "Something didn't seem right about you. These things you're doing. They don't add up. I don't understand what's going on in your head. You've probably seen her bruises, right? I did too, but I never bothered to try to do anything about it. And that's the thing. I always thought you would do likewise. You, me, and the others, we would all be like that. It wouldn't concern us. But this compassion I see you give her now…now…now I don't understand." Kenya felt his eyes begin to sting. He always hated it when the tears start to brim. _Pull yourself together, you're eleven and he doesn't need to see this from you._ "Who are you trying to be?" He demanded, willing the sniffles to go away.

Satoru shrugged, the smile wavering. A few beats passed, heavy with silence. Kenya was ready to ascend the steps, grab him and knock his head about till he got a better answer that, but then Satoru was talking, and Kenya couldn't believe his ears as he listened. "I guess…I guess I just want to be a superhero…you know?" Satoru answered lamely.

More beats passed. Then Kenya heard laughter echo off the walls, and realised it was coming from himself as he clutched his sides and gasped for breath.

"Yeah that definitely sounds like you," Kenya muttered.

He apologized. Satoru apologized. Forgiveness was given. An understanding was reached. Hinazuki's life was in danger and she had to be saved. Friendship was renewed and made all the more potent. Strolling through the empty hallways, the two returned to class and realized the bell had gone a long time ago when everyone turned in their seats to stare at them, friends smiling as the teacher frowned with his textbook in hand. They were then forced to stand outside and repent with the buckets of water in their hands dragging their sore arms down as their year-mates inside giggled and snickered, but Kenya felt light of heart. Superheroes aren't always appreciated.

You thought you knew someone for your entire life, and then they surprised you, amazed you, and suddenly you wanted to be just like them. To fall in love. To fight for that cause you just knew was yours when it found you. To one day have that same purpose and drive and all the fears and happiness that came with it. To become a superhero too.

* * *

 **Waiting for new episodes really gets the writer in me going :/**

 **PS: I made this one mostly from memory, so I probably might have gotten a few details wrong.**


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